I have had the pleasure of seeing three famous recording artists in person. The first was back in the 1950s and that was Jerry Lee Lewis in Long Beach, California while on active duty in the U.S. Navy. The next great icon was in Las Vegas with my fiancé, now my wife. That was Elvis Presley during his declining years. The third was while at Fort Carson, Colorado while with the Army and Air Force Reserve Service. That was Alice Cooper. I did not know much about him at the time, other than that he was an off the wall performer. I believe he had calmed down a little in the 1990s compared to when he broke the mold for rock performance artists. Some may think that KISS came first, but not so.
Now to the book. Alice Cooper was born Vincent Damon Furnier and spent much of his formative years in East Detroit, California, and mostly in Arizona. He avoided hard drugs, according to his book, but alcohol, sex and all the other typical rock musician behavior was consistent. While Alice had a band, he spent much of his time, as other lead singers do, in hotel room isolation. Two things saved him…. Christianity and golf. Also contributing was his marriage to a young dancer, Sheryl Goddard.
Alice Cooper, Golf Monster, takes you though an early history tour of Rock and Roll on the heels of Bill Hailey, Elvis, Jerry Lee, Johnny Ray, the Rolling Stones and others. The list of entertainment stars he has been associated with is endless. He was the first to put on the makeup and stretch the limit of showmanship. Stretch as he did, he was even banned in Europe at one time. Another rare occurrence was that his relationship with his manager, Shep Gordon, was with a handshake and not the ridiculous legalese everyone goes through now a days.
Alice began to spend his days on the golf course, and today he is an accomplished scratch to three-handicap player. He has his own tournament and plays in many pro-ams. Throughout and at the end of the book, he even gives a number of golf tips that may be beneficial to high handicap players.
The book is published by Crown Publishers of New York. www.crownpublishing.com. ISBN 978-0-307-38265-8.